I can't believe people are reading my entries and even responding, or at least telling me why they are not.   I'm writing too much and need to lay back.   But this place is addictive, especially to someone as full of, umm...digested grass as I am.

Anyway, as I read other people's entries I feel I have to respond.  And,  as is the case with my previous entry, this entry is a copy of one such response.  The topics are religion and violence, written by HonestlyAbe. Click HERE to go to his entry.   The following is my response:

I'm wondering how much of it (violence, wars and the like) we can lay at the feet of religions.   Isn't there just something in human nature that yearns for identity, even community?  Doesn't religion fill that need?  However, there seems to be something else in our psyche that makes us think, or want to believe, that our way is the best way, that we are or ought to be the champions.  I'm not sure where this better-than-thouness originated, but it's played out at all levels, from high school rivalries to the geo-political playing field.

Enter the demagogue who reinforces our lofty self-perceptions (these guys do really well during times of economic and social unrest) and whips us into a frenzy.  Once a scapegoat has been identified, it seems mankind is capable of all kinds of inhumanenss.  I can think of nothing more frightening than mob mentality.   We become capable of all sorts of destructive behaviors when our emotions are aroused. 

When we're running on emotion the rational is subdued.  Religions, for the most part, are in the romantic-emotional realm.  If it (religion, faith, diety) could be examined under a microscope, if eveyone could see and talk with God in person or even chat with Him in Yahoo, then it would be part of our physical-sentient-rational world.  We'd have to find something else to blame for all the fighting.

For my part, the only part of which I can speak with any credibility or expertise, I like my religion.  It provides a safe and loving community for my children.  I also like it because it, or the way I've chosen to interpret it, allows me to accept beliefs of other religions as having divine origins.  It speaks of revelation as being an intellectual as well as an emotional experience, a powerful and convincing combination.  My religion, the organization, continues its evolution through painful and intolerant (tribalistic) growth stages, as do most religions, and finds itself being used to sell everything:  books,  DVD's,  real estate...you name it.  However, I hope its doctrines encourage me to study and question as much as fall in lock-step with everyone else.  Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but don't pop it, not yet.

It's okay if you pop my bubble and point out all my contradictions.  I just thought that saying not to was a cute way to end my comment.  Any comments or insights YOU share are more than welcome. 

SUAS